The Healing Power of the Five Elements

This article is by Robert Abramson, DDS, MD, M.AC. , from the Worsley Institute web page. It is one of the best explanations of Five Element Chinese Medicine that I have found. This approach is at the heart of much of the work I do. Enjoy! Janet

Why do we seek out the mountains, forests, rivers, desert and seashore? Why do we have a sense of well being and serenity when around the works of nature? What is it that attracts us to these natural environments?

The answer to all these questions is the same. These natural surroundings strike a chord in us, they remind us in the deepest most basic way that we are an integral part of the natural world. When we forget that we are nature we suffer. This simple, yet profound, realization that we are part of the natural world, is at the heart of the Five Element System of Chinese medicine. The Five Element System provides for us a beacon that we can use to illuminate our path, especially when our path appears overgrown and torturous.

The Five Element approach reflects the unity that we share with the natural world. Its teachings give us a way to understand our lives in the larger context. I have been a student and practitioner of the Five Element System as taught by Professor J.R. Worsley for over 25 years. In that time I have seen this system help a vast number of people on the Body, Mind, and Spirit levels. In my work with patients I have observed that when we have the experience of being part of the natural world we feel at peace. We do not have to learn this way, only to recall it.

I would like to share with you the Five Element System and show how by remembering who we are we can begin healing ourselves and the world around us.

The Five Elements are Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. These elements were the way the ancient Chinese saw the world. The early masters realized that these elements were also within us. One of the laws explaining the Five Elements is the law of Mother-Child or the Sheng cycle. This cycle illustrates how each element is connected to the other elements in a never ending cycle of Birth-Growth-Harvest-Death-Rebirth. This cycle is clearly manifested in the external world by the seasons. Wood-Spring (Birth) feeds the Fire of Summer (Maturation) creating the Earth-Late Summer (Harvest). Out of Earth comes Metal-Fall (Dying back, letting go) continuing on to Water-Winter (Quiet Rebuilding Reservoirs), which goes on to support Wood.

The power and relevance of the Five Element System is that it places us in the reality of ever changing nature and the impermanence of life. Take a walk in nature at any season and you will see life springing forth and life dying back. It is no different for us. We are part of the dance. The greater our acceptance of this dance of change the greater our experience of peace and serenity.

The Five Element practitioner acts as a farmer, tends to his or her (crops) patients, seeing what they need. The practitioner discerns which element is the most out of balance, which element is the most damaged, and where the blocks are along the cycle that are not allowing for change. Supporting and nourishing the element that is the most damaged, the practitioner begins to unblock the patient’s energy, strengthens the flow of the sheng cycle thus bringing the person into balance.

There are numerous ways a practitioner can support the patient's energy: acupuncture, acupressure, herbs, moxa, giving the patient homework to do, giving the patient an understanding of where they are, where they are blocked, and a vision of their future.

Every aspect of our life whether the smallest, seemingly inconsequential, to the construct of our entire life can be seen along the continuum of the Five Element cycle. For example, you decide to create something, a relationship, a painting, a report, etc. It begins with the seed, the idea, the beginning that bursts forth. This represents the Wood energy of Springtime, a season of birth, beginning, planning, organizing, and decision making. When the Wood element is healthy it grants us the ability, like a strong tree or sprouting seed, to be upright and strong yet also to bend. As Lao Tzu tells us, "yield and you need not break."

The seed germinates and begins to grow nurtured by the warmth of the Fire element, the Summer. Fire energy is about sorting out what to keep and what to throw away, what to give love, passion, and energy to, when to open your heart and when it is appropriate to close your heart. Fire grants us the ability to mature and experience joy.

After Summer comes the season of Late Summer, the Earth element. This is the time to rejoice in the harvest, to feel fulfilled in your work, to see that you have taken the idea and brought it to completion. The Earth energy is about nurturing and caring, as Mother Earth provides sustenance and a home for us, and ideally, as our own mothers provided for us.

Harvest time is followed by Autumn, the Metal element, a time of letting go. In the natural world sunlight, leaves, and warmth all are on the decline. We often feel sadness and grief at this time. In the larger context this letting go is vital, change is inevitable. We would not be able to bring in new ideas if we did not have the ability to discard old ones.

The Fall, Metal season, gives way to the Water-Winter season. A time when the outer world is cold, seemingly inert. Beneath the surface, nature is resting, regenerating, rebuilding its storehouses in anticipation of the coming Spring. The Winter-Water season is as vital to our health and well being as is the birth of Spring. We must honor in us this time to rest and give it its proper place.

You can begin to see the innate wisdom of this system. It is the way the world flows and the way our life flows when healthy in Body, Mind, and Spirit. This system of medicine is an experiential one. We can talk about it but as Lao Tzu says, "the real Tao cannot be talked about in words." This system is alive in each one of us. How do I know this? "It all begins in me," said Lao Tzu. I encourage you to partake in this wonderful system of healing.

When part of all of your life is not flowing, meditate on the Five Element cycle and see where you are blocked or off balance. What don’t you have enough of? Too much of? What are you not able to access? Using the Five Element System as a framework lay your situation upon it and begin to provide yourself with the quality and essence of the elements that will restore harmony and flow to your being. Trust your vision and inherent wisdom to understand the validity of the Five Element System.

Ask yourself how do you experience Fire? What are your associations with Summer? Do this for each element. Allow yourself to have direct contact with the elements. They are ever present to us in the natural world. Fire blazing in the sun or controlled in a fireplace, Earth, the varied soils beneath our feet, the center of our world. Metal, the trace elements that are so precious and fundamental to life, rare in quantity but of irreplaceable value and quality. Water, the elixir of life. Water in all it’s manifest forms granting power and the ability of flow. Wood the energy of growth and of the resilience of life. Can you be flexible with life’s challenges?

Work with the elements, become sensitive to them, friends with them. In so doing you reacquaint yourself with what is within you. Experience the seasons as they inevitably change. Welcome in the changes. The essence of life is movement and flow. Watch what nature does and learn.